[Aug
7] NUKU'ALOFA,Tonga -- TINEKA Scott, serving with the New Zealand
Police in Tonga, caught a 38.4kg Giant Trevally on a 15kg line,
after an exhausting 100 minute fight.

"It was hard work, and I'm pretty sore," said Tineka
after battling to land the fish. "After an hour I was wondering
how much longer it was going to take. I did the whole thing by myself.
It was never going to get away." Photo:
Tineka Scott weighs in a women's world record claim 38.4kg Giant
Trevally, with competition judge, Hon. Justice A. D. Ford

Tineka from the North Shore, Auckland, described
her catch as "pretty exciting".
She is a Senior Sergeant who came to Tonga after November
16 to work alongside the Tonga Police in a community policing programme,
which visits schools and helps to make the community feel at ease.

The caught was made during the first day of an annual ladies fishing
tournament.

"Our fish is a clear record claim," said Bill
Triffitt, the Tournament Director, after confirming with the International
Game Fishing Association (IGFA) in Florida that the current Giant
Trevally women's world record from Kiribati was 33.18kg - a record
that has not been broken since 1987. "Our fish beats what we believe
is the current ladies record for 15kg line class by about 5kg and
there are no known record claims pending."

Bill said "It could be very good for the very
small game fishing industry here, this kind of thing can attract
a lot of international anglers."

Tineka was fishing from Blah Blah with Skipper
Kevin Yorwarth of the New Zealand Army, who is posted in Tonga as
a Technical Advisor Mechanical to the Tonga Defence Services, when
she hooked the Giant Trevally off the reefs near 'Atata Island.

"We gave the fish to the TDS to feed the troops," she
said.

Giant Trevally can grow even bigger than
the one caught by Tineka. The current men's record for a Giant Trevally
is 51.5kg caught in Japan.